Wire drawing



Patented May 23, 1944 2,349,708 ,WIRE 'mmwmo Flint C. Elder, ClevelandHeights, Ohio, assignor to The American Steel and Wire Company of NewJersey, a corporation of New Jersey No Drawing. Application June 19,1942, Serial No. 447,744

7 Claims.

In cold drawing steel wire,it is common practice to coat the wire with alubricating composition prior to its passing through the drawing dies,to facilitate passage through the dies. Variouscompositions customarilyare employed for this purpose. Thus lime is used commonly as a coatingcompound, it being a conventional practice to coat the wire or rod withlime by hot of sloppy lime-covered floors in the cleaning house and inthe baker room, where the lime coating is baked on the rod. K150,further disadvantages in the use of lime arise from the veryair of themills being filled continuously with lime dust and the floors and all ofthe equipment and apparatus becoming continually coated with a layer offine lime dust.

The present invention avoids these and other objections by eliminatinglime altogether and by providing awire drawing lubricant which enables avery substantial increase in the num-- ber of drawings permitted,without applying additional lubricating coatings.

In accordance with the present invention, sulphur, preferably in theform of flowers of sulphur, is mixed in various proportions with wiredrawing soap or any of the metallic stearates, it being found inpractice that either insoluble or soluble stearates are equallyapplicable for the purpose of this invention, water-soluble stearatesbeing more readily removable, however, from the wire after drawing; andthe mixture is placed in a die box in front of the wire drawing die. Thewire is drawn through this dry powder mixture in the die box, whichadheres to the wire, the thus-coated wire being drawn through the die'and the powderserving as a lubricant in the wire drawing operation.

In practice, it is found that the combination of sulphur and dry soap isso effective that it enables, a coil of low-carbon rods, properlypickled and washed inhot water but without any lime whatsoever either inthe lubricant or on the this manner nine successive drafts that did nothave lime in the coating.

It is found in practice that it is needed to apply the dry powder to therod'being drawn into wire only on the first draft. While the improvedpowder lubricant can be used in the die box for each draft, in practiceit is not found necessary to do so. When drawing a No. 5 rod down to 20size wire, the powder forms a coating on the wire which remains on thewire all the way down to the last draft. I

Prior to the present invention it has been impossible to draw ninedrafts from an uncoated No. 5 rod by using lime with soap or a stearatein the die box, it being necessary first to coat.

the rod with lime by hot dipping, the coating being required to berepeated between-the draws.

The preferred composition of the improved lubricant is as follows:

Parts Flowers of sulphur (by weight) 4 Wire drawing soap (calciumstearate) r 3 However, these proportions may be varied in practice, aswill be found to be required, depending on the type of soap that is usedand condition of service. Thus, two parts of flowers of sulphur to onepart of calcium stearate gives excellent results.

Instead of calcium stearate, other metallic stearates which areinsoluble in water may be used with the flowers of sulphur, as willbecome apparent, the proportions being determined.-

Also, while flowers of sulphur are preferred, other forms of finelycommlnuted elemental sulphur may be employed. In any case, a uniformmixture of the sulphur and soap is produced for use.

wire, to be drawn 'throughnine successive drafts I claim:

1. The process of drawing wire, which consists in applying to the wire awire-drawing lubricant consisting essentiafly of a dry mixture ofsulphur and wire-drawing soap in the proportions of from two to fourparts by weight of sulphur and from one to three parts by weight ofwiredrawing soap, and'drawing the thus-lubricated wire through awire-drawing die.

2. Theprocess of drawing wire, which consists in applying to a stock tobe drawn into wire, a wire-drawing lubricant composed essentially of adry mixture of sulphur and a metal stearate in the proportion of fromtwo to four parts by weight of sulphur and from one to three parts byweight of metal stearate, and drawing the thus-lubricated stock througha wire-drawing die.

3. The process of drawing wire, which consists-in applying to a stock tobe drawn into wire, a. wire-drawing lubricant'composed essentially of adry mixture of sulphur and a metal stearate selected from the class ofstearates consisting of water-insoluble stearates and watersolublestearates, said dry mixture being in the proportion of from two to fourparts by weight of sulphur and from one to three parts by weight of thestearate, and drawing the thus-lubricated stock through a wire-drawingdie.

4. The process of drawing wire, which-consists in applying to a stock tobe drawn into wire, a wire-drawing lubricant composed essentially of adry mixture of sulphur and a metal stearate in the proportion of fromtwo to four parts by weight of sulphur and from one to three parts byweight of the stearate, and drawing the thuslubricated stock into wireby a multiplicity of drafts, one application of the said lubricanteffectively lubricating the stock through all of the drafts withoutrequiring re-application of in applying to a stock to be drawn intowire, a wire-drawing lubricant composed essentially of a dry mixture ofsulphur and a metal stearate selected from the class of steal-atesconsisting of water-insoluble stearates and water-soluble stearates, thesaid dry mixture being in the proportion of from two to four parts byweight of sulphur and from one to three parts by weight of the stearate,and drawing the thus-lubricated stock into wire by a multiplicity ofdrafts through wire-drawing dies, one application of the said lubricanteffectively lubricating the stock through all of the multiplicity ofdrafts without requiring re-application of the lubricant to the stockbetween the drafts.

7. The process of drawing wire, which consists in applying to a stock tobe drawn into wire, a wire-drawing lubricant composed essentially of adry mixture of sulphur and a metal stearate selected from the class ofstearates consisting of water-soluble stearates and water-insolublestearates, the said dry mixture being in the proportion of from two tofour parts by weight of sulphur and from one to three parts by weight ofstearates, the said stock consisting of uncoated No. 5 low-carbon rod,and drawing the thuslubricated rod into wire by a multiplicity of draftsthrough wire-drawing dies, there being up to nine of the said drafts,one application of the said lubricant effectively lubricating the stockthrough all of the drafts without requiring reapplication of thelubricant between the drafts.

If 'LIINT C. ELDER.

